HomeMy WebLinkAboutComment Received 07-01-2017 - Avila Ranch (General) (Avila 2) ItArn- ,P L \
From: Frank Avila < >
Sent: Saturday, July 1, 2017 7:00 AM
To: Advisory Bodies
Subject: PC communication- Avila Ranch Support
Dear Planning Committee Members:
RECEIVED
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
JUL - 3 2017
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
In the next month you will likely be asked to approve the proposed Avila Ranch project. I strongly urge you to
approve this project, as it will be a significant step forward in fulfilling the Council's and Mayor's top priority
of facilitating the creation of more housing in our city. As you know this project was reviewed and approved as
part of the LUCE. The City spent three years affirming the change to residential use for this property.
I am one of the owners of this property and have submitted a previous letter of support for the project. This
time I wanted to provide a little history on the property and how we arrived where we are today from the
perspective of the family who has owned this for more than 100 years.
My family immigrated from the Azores to SLO in the late 1800s and purchased this property from Stanford
University in 1910. Three generations of the Avila family farmed the ranch growing beans, hay, sugar beets
and other crops. During that time, the City and County urbanized to and around us. In 1994, we made the
decision to lease the farm out to a farming contractor since none of the remaining family members were willing
to farm raw land next to the City, and because of the increasing restrictions that were being placed on the
farming industry. Since that time, the property has been primarily "dry farmed" with Safflower, beans and
grain as the main crops.
Since the late 1990's farming on the site has not made financial sense for us due to the increased restrictions on
farming, and the limited types of crops that we can plant due to the marginal soil. For comparison, only about
one-third of our property is considered Class I or Class II "prime" soils (and only when irrigated), compared to
100 percent Class I and II "prime: soils for San Luis Ranch. It is rare that the entire site is in production in the
same year, and our farmer has done a yeoman's job of coaxing production out of these soils, but for us the
farming operation has basically been unprofitable. We continue to share crop farm the property because of our
community pride and to be good stewards of the land. It would be just as profitable (perhaps more so) to let it
go fallow and become unsightly. Keeping it in ag any longer does not serve any larger agricultural conservation
or production purpose.
In the early 1970s my father started working with the County to investigate the County's vision for this area of
town, and we began a 20 -year process to change the zoning from agriculture to industrial within the County. In
2000 the County zoned the property for Business Park and Industrial Uses (like the Suburban Road businesses
to the north) and in 2001 we developed a Master Plan for an Industrial Business Park on the property. This
resulted in the development of Dipotics building (now Lockheed Martin). What is interesting at that point in
time the County required Dioptics to provide a percentage of funding for the Buckley Rd extension as this
project was on the Counties agenda to be completed back then and we are still talking about it today and now
the developer is offering to pay for the entire extension.
Subsequently, the City contacted us regarding including our property in their upcoming annexation plans
associated with their Airport Area Specific Plan, and as a possible site for residential development. We decided
to abandon the Industrial Business Park idea and move forward down the long road of developing the property
within the city as a mixed used residential community. In 2010, we restarted that effort because of the City's
inclusion of our property in their General Plan Housing Element study as a possible location for new residential
units. To that end, we were active participants in LUCE process where the community analyzed that
opportunity, and that is how we arrive where we are today.
Hopefully this will provide you some personal insight into the Avila Ranch Community and why a long time
local resident has decided to move forward with developing a family-owned property they have cherished for
many years. We can say that we are very pleased (as I am sure Manuel Avila and Josephina Avila would be)
with the plan being processed by Avila Ranch LLC as it makes wise use of the land, preserves significant open
space, and keeps the truly valuable soils along the Buckley frontage in production in perpetuity. Under this
plan, the property will continue to be an asset to the community for many years to come.
Thanks
Frank Avila
Frank Avila
favilaSS@F,mail.com